Time is relative
by Unnamed.in.whispers
Summary: The TARDIS has had her soul ripped out and shoved into the body of a dying woman. It's something that a super-dimensional being must get used to… and something the Doctor is having a hard time dealing with.


Title: Time and Relative… Pairing: 11th Doctor/TARDIS (Idris) Series: Dr Who, series 6

Rating: 15 Type: Fanfiction

Summary: The TARDIS has had her soul ripped out and shoved into the body of a dying woman. It's something that a super-dimensional being must get used to… and something the Doctor is having a hard time dealing with.

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Dr Who characters or anything from the universe of Dr Who. I am just taking the characters and playing with them a while – promising to restore them whole and unblemished! Thanks to Russell T for creating these toys for me to enjoy. Please don't take any of my playing as having any bearing on the actual franchise. Enjoy.

()()()

Swiping a rough hand across his sweat-heavy brow, the Doctor stole a glance at the woman working barely three meters away from him.

Idris; she was magnificent.

He shook his head at the awe tinting his thoughts. It wasn't a physical analysis of the woman… it was deeper than that; far beyond flesh. Idris was the most beautiful thing he had ever laid eyes upon… because she was the TARDIS.

And more than that again; she was _his_ TARDIS.

The soul of the TARDIS, torn from the machine and placed inside a woman, his head shook again. He still had a hard time accepting it. It was mad… totally mad. But when was his life ever completely sane?

The Doctor gulped in another lung of stench-filled air and tried to dismiss the rush of emotion that washed through him at the thought of her…

It was entirely possible that this woman knew him better than any other companion he had ever chosen. That she understood the weight of space and time pressing in on her just as it did him… how it made her whole and fragmented all at once…

What had she said… people were so much bigger on the inside? So much more complicated.

He smiled as he watched her work to assemble the scrap he brought her into the miracle of a working TARDIS console…

She was so clever… light-years beyond him. And witty… wry… dangerous… adventurous… everything he was and all the opposites he needed… and she was a woman… she was flesh and she was blood and she was standing right before him.

Even he had to admit that there had been something between them from the first moment they had met in the flesh… he corrected; from the first moment she had kissed him.

And there it was again, a jumbled cocktail of doubt, anxiety, ecstasy and full-blown attraction with a flush of heat.

The Doctor gulped and tried to control himself as he hoisted the rope back over his shoulder and dragged the scrap metal over to the gathered remnants of dead TARDIS.

He gave Idris another glance, at once worried about how she might feel – standing in the midst of her dead relatives – and suddenly concerned for her health as she gripped her side and leaned heavily on the counter.

He hesitated, '_This body has eighteen minutes to live' _she had told him. She was dying. His TARDIS was dying. And there was only the smallest chance they could save her.

From the beginning, she had always been there for him. She had saved him on more than one occasion. Now it was his turn.

"Where are you going?" Her voice echoed over the junk yard.

Surprised by the question, he turned to look at her alarmed expression. "To get more…" words failed… "stuff."

"Don't leave," she quivered, her body swaying.

He was there in an instant to catch her, "It's alright," he soothed, cradling her face. "I'm here."

Idris focused her eyes on him as they softened and smiled, "I know. You always are, you know."

He laughed, "Still having trouble with your tenses?"

"No," she moved to hold his hand which rested on her cheek, "I'm not."

Another wash of emotion rushed over him… and the Doctor hesitated. "I've been thinking…"

"Yes?" She breathed, her eyes roaming over his face as she smiled.

"What if we get out of here…"

"Yes."

"And we don't put you back in the box…"

Idris looked at him, a little perplexed; "Why would we do that?"

The Doctor shrugged, "We can't talk once you're back inside. But if we can fix this body…"

He was silenced by her fingertip at his lips. "It's a wonderful thought… but we both know it is impossible."

The Doctor felt tears spring to his eyes as he remembered how a friend, two lifetimes ago, had absorbed a mere fraction of the TARDIS soul and it had nearly burned her out. The only way to save Rose Tyler from death was for the Doctor to take that energy away from her and feed it back into the TARDIS heart himself.

It had killed him.

And he would have done it again.

Yet, he still remembered the feeling of having the TARDIS within him; it's energy flowing through his veins, it's light shining from each pore in his body. It was exhilarating.

"Idris…" he whispered, finding the mere formation of words a struggle.

She moved closer, eyes brimming with concern, "Doctor?"

"That thing about kissing," he said with a smile and shifted closer to her to move a stray stand of hair behind her ear, "I've been thinking about it."

Idris closed her eyes, her lashes fluttered and she sighed, "Yes..?"

"Tell me," he continued, feeling nervous, "you have seen the future…"

"I have…" she breathed.

"You know what happens next…"

"I do."

And with that, she blew golden, sparkling light which made his skin tingle. It was magnificent.

"You're breath-taking…" he whispered, moving closer to embrace her.

"You haven't seen the half of it," she answered, pressing her lips against his and melting into his caress.

It was wonderful; like coming home after being lost for far too long.

The Doctor found his hands wandering, running over her skin and under her clothes, disrobing her as she did the same to him…

"I love the way you touch me," she sighed, running her fingers over his chest. "You're always so eager but so hesitant… like you're asking permission…"

"You've always been so responsive," he replied, "it seems like the thing to do."

She laughed, "I wasn't complaining." Idris gasped, feeling him pull their bodies closer. "I'm sexy."

The Doctor laughed to himself, "Yes. You are."

And he kissed her, feeling the energy and confusion she felt run through his skin.

"You alright?"

Idris blinked at him, "I've never stopped trusting you, my thief…"

"And I've always loved you."

"You always will."

A groan sounded from deep within him as his body melted against hers, feeling every millimetre surrender to the feel of her against him, the shape of her thigh and the curve of her breast…

He pressed further still – wishing time would slow and he could bathe in the sensation of this woman… his TARDIS…

"Your face is wet…" she sighed as he withdrew… "but there is no rain… and Silence is coming…"

He looked to her for understanding, but her eyes were distant once more.

The Doctor took the womans hand, feeling the warmth of flesh against his own and wishing for more…

"You have to remember that when I hum, I'm singing to you…"

"Of course," he answered, "singing... I like singing..."

And she smiled, reaching to caress his cheek, "We have so little time..."

Her kiss was unexpected; delicate, desperate and sorrowful. She tasted of such wondrous depth... of space and time... and salt and tears.

He couldn't remember being so thrilled at the touch of someone – they were of a kind and their courtship had spanned generations and galaxies.

Idris drew away for a moment and traced a circle in the air... her time energy expanded into a bubble, capturing them both within...

A small and unstable timelock.

Perhaps there was more time to explore their new dynamic than he had assumed...

_Dirty, old man! _He chastised himself... _You should be saving Amy and Rory..._

And didn't they always need saving? Didn't all of his companions, in the end, require him to lever them out of some such predicament or other? Couldn't he have this one moment to explore what he wanted? A moment that was truly impossible and unthinkable and should never have happened... and wonderful...

He found himself reaching for her and Idris was not backing away...

Her slender frame pulled easily toward his own, moulding into him as he bent to deliver the sweetest kiss upon her lips.

She tingled... it was delicious...

Energy sparked and time wound out from the sound of her gasp...

And he, as ancient as he was, felt a longing within him to be connected with this woman in his arms… this woman who was all about him… this woman who had somehow manoeuvred them to the ground and was beneath him…

Her legs framed his and she welcomed him into the arch of her frame as they lay on the ground as their lips met; energy tingled and stars were born and died in the instant.

He felt his hearts murmur and his skin prickled, every inch of him aware of her as their bodies rounded on each other and found an easy rhythm…

"Ah… my theif…" she sighed as he peppered kisses over her lips, moving down her jaw and resting on her collar… "Remember that when you speak to me… I can hear you…"

"Want me to speak to you, do you?" He asked, needing to know what she wanted of him, "I can tell you how much I want you in this moment and in this body…" And the Doctor settled to pepper kisses all over her face and move the shower to her neck, "You are perfection!"

And she laughed, "This moment is finite… it will end, my love…"

And he hardened to think of himself as hers…

He snarled… tearing at her dress to gain access…

"It burns…" she sighed, straining against his touch as he rent the last constraint from them and their flesh met, "It's a flame that ties us both… this body must die…"

"You aren't dying!" He insisted, pressing his lips to hers and thrusting a hand between her legs to let her feel the blood rushing through her at that moment, "You're life itself…"

And the TARDIS looked at him, with starlight in her eyes and insisted, "Be with me… my thief…"

He could not deny her as their bodies collided in starlight and sensation…

They were lost…

()()()()

After the ultimate joy of seeing his friends safe abated, his mind returned to the woman he owed his life to.

Idris was complaining about the limitations of her dying body when he reached her and slipped a gentle arm beneath her frame to move her closer to the TARDIS control panel…

And now for the fun part…

"Amy…" he began, swallowing some excitement, "this is… well… she's my TARDIS." He said, smiling broadly before explaining, " Except she's a woman." Amy and Rory looked to Idris… baffled, "She's a woman," he tried again, "and she's my TARDIS."

The humans gaped.

"She's the TARDIS?!" Amy demanded.

_Now they're getting it, _"And she's a woman." The Doctor beamed, "She's a woman and she's the TARDIS." Giving her cheek a little prod to be certain what he was saying was true and not some massive hallucination…

Amy's eyes creased, "Did you wish really hard?"

For a moment, The Doctor was slightly aghast at the implications before the more sensible part of his brain recalled what he and Idris had shared not ten minutes earlier. Still, he felt he had to protest, "Shut up!" And quantify, "Not like that."

For her part, Idris stood shakily and approached the trio, saying "Hello," and stating, " I'm… sexy…"

Amy and Rory scoffed at this and The Doctor, feeling the heat of embarrassment pink his cheeks, warned, "Still – shut up!"

God! Could they see how he was besotted?

On with the rescue…

And TARDIS was magnificent…

She sacrificed… and The Doctor felt his hearts break…

There would never be another woman for him… and she would never leave him.

He supposed he could always talk to her and touch her…

But it seemed that was no longer enough.

They were friends and confidents… they could understand each other without even having to vocalise thoughts… but now there had been more…

It would never be the same.

And he couldn't feel the same about her.

Amy and Rory left to go to their bed for the night and The Doctor was alone.

TARDIS thrummed about him… the woman in the machine that surrounded him was no longer flesh and finite…

She was infinite.

And his.

As he was hers.

His hearts strained…

Always.


End file.
